S08 E23: Stories That Root, Stories That Release

Michael McRay prepares listeners for his upcoming conversation with Kaitlin Curtice, award-winning author and Potawatomi Nation citizen, whose new book Everything is a Story explores how stories root in our bodies, beliefs, and behaviors. Michael reflects on Kaitlin's framework of stories as lethal, loving, or liminal - categories that he argues aren't separate buckets but overlapping truths within the same narrative. Michael demonstrates how a single story can simultaneously hold hope and futility, love and obedience, connection and violence. Michael challenges the notion that we lose stories we didn't choose, examining how narratives handed down through family, church, and culture take root before we even recognize them as stories. He introduces the parable of the man building a house in a field who trapped insects inside by adding windows - a metaphor for how stories get locked into our forming brains during childhood and require intentional work to shift. In this episode, he also discusses: How Kaitlin's book structure mirrors a tree's growth cycle from seed to mature tree to seed again, reflecting story's circular nature Why the transformative work of story requires spiritual slowness and presence rather than rushing toward resolution How narrative intelligence means holding complexity and recognizing stories aren't tidy but textured, tangled, and true in layers Coming Up: Tune in for Michael's conversation with Kaitlin Curtice next week LOW TICKET ALERT - less than 25 tickets available! Michael's book The Wild Way: Navigating the Space Between the Old Story and the New releasing in October - preorder today! Becoming Restoried